As a reaction to the toll on the U.S. economy that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused, Congress passed legislation, the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act” that allocates $2.2 trillion in economic relief. A key facet is assistance to businesses and their employees that have been impacted by stay at home and shelter in place proclamations that have been announced by states and local governments across the nation. This relief offers the HERS® rating industry an opportunity to keep their businesses solvent and HERS® Raters to continue to receive pay during the pandemic. Of most interest to the HERS® rating community is the “Keeping American Workers Paid and Employed Act”. The Act provides $344 billion to help prevent workers from losing their jobs and small businesses from going under due to economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Paycheck Protection Program would provide 8 weeks of cash-flow assistance through 100 percent federally guaranteed loans to small employers who maintain their payroll during this emergency. If the employer maintains its payroll, then the portion of the loan used for covered payroll costs, interest on mortgage obligations, rent, and utilities would be forgiven, which would help workers to remain employed, affected small businesses stay in business, and our economy to recover quickly from this crisis. This proposal would be retroactive to February 15, 2020, to help bring workers who may have already been laid off back onto payrolls. The legislation requires the Small Business Administration to register each loan using the taxpayer TIN, as defined by the Internal Revenue Service, within 15 days. This provision offers the opportunity for HERS® rating businesses to retain their employees and maintain operations, and for HERS® raters to keep their salaries during this crisis. RESNET will be hosting a free webinar at 3:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday, April 17, 2020 on the above emergency economic relief legislation. The webinar will be led by Carl Chidlow, RESNET’s Washington representative. The webinar will feature the details on the new Paycheck Protection Program and other provisions of the CARES Act and answering your questions. The webinar is free but interested parties must pre-register for the event. To register for the webinar go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3236110516727601420
